Voice Calendar Review – Not quite as nifty as it looks

A handy addition to the default Calendar application, Voice Calendar what Siri can do to calendars on iPhone 4S phones to other iOS devices. Although not half as user friendly as Siri, Voice Calendar does a great job integrating itself with the built-in calendar of your Apple device.

At first glance, Voice Calendar appears virtually identical to that of the default calendar in Apple devices. However, upon close inspection many buttons have moved or shifted. For example, the “Today” button has been moved to a top corner where an “+” button previously. Everything other button has been removed, replaced by an “Option” button.

Voice Calendar allows you to organize events using vocal commands, by tapping the microphone icon and speaking into the device. Functionality wise, Voice Calender is by far inferior to Siri. This is shown when it was unable to tell the difference from jotting down exact memos and scheduling events. For example, saying “I have a meeting at 5pm tomorrow” had the app scheduling an event named “I have a meeting at 5pm tomorrow” on 9th March 2012 while the same command had Siri making an event titled “Meeting” scheduled on the same date at 5pm. Voice Calendar had a longer processing time for the commands I spoke into my iPhone 4S.

While Voice Calendar integrates itself with the default calendar through syncing previously entered events and such, it has to be accessed through a separate application rather than being embedded into the default calendar app as I would have preferred. There is also no option to key in events manually with the keyboard, so users will have to toggle between two separate apps that access the same calendar depending on their choices.

For $1.99, Voice Calendar is not worth the money. Novelty aside, in terms of practicality actually keying your events manually is way more efficient. Moreover, Voice Calendar lacks the ability to differentiate from instructions, taking everything literally unlike Siri found on iPhone 4S devices. This is a handy app to have, but not a necessity to own.

Quick Take

Value:Low

Would I Buy Again:No

Learning Curve:Simple. Just tap and speak

Who Is It For:People who prefer using voice control to organize their schedules

What I Like:Integration with default calendary app

What I Don't Like:Intelligence of app is very limited

Final Statement:Perhaps you might consider the old fashioned pen and paper?

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A water polo player from Singapore, Wei Jie devotes most of his time to training. However, when he's not occupied by water training or pushing himself in the gym, expect to see him squinting at his iPhone testing out new apps.